Winged Lancer
"For the Queen, for Kislev, for glory -- we fly! And damned be he that first cries hold!" Advanced (RotIQ) Every Gospodar settlement annually raises a rota of winged lancers. Each spring, eager young men muster alongside veterans and don armour at their rotamaster’s command. To the sound of weeping womenfolk, they ride, their winged banners fluttering behind them. Until their return, they are known as the “Riders of the Dead,” for they are mourned as if already deceased. Every rota of lancers has a different character. Where some southern examples are like Imperial knights, sporting colourful pennants, intricately decorated armour, and great animal pelts, lancers from beyond the Lynsk are more akin to Ungol nomads, having heavy moustaches, top-knots, and fur-lined charms to ward against evil. Main Profile Secondary Profile Skills: Academic Knowledge (Strategy/Tactics) (Int), Animal Care (Int) or Dodge Blow (Ag), Command (Fel) or Navigation (Int), Common Knowledge (Kislev or Troll Country) (Int), Consume Alcohol (T), Outdoor Survival (Int), Perception (Int), Ride (Ag), Secret Language (Battle Tongue) (Int), Speak Language (Kislevarin) (Int) Talents: Hardy or Very Resilient, Specialist Weapon Group (Cavalry), Strike Mighty Blow or Strike to Injure Trappings: Winged lancers are fearsome warriors, and they dress the part. All winged lancers have at least full suits of mail, though some accent their armour with bits of plate. From their backs fly winged banners. In battle, they thunder across the field, riding Kislevite warhorses equipped with saddles and harnesses. For arms, they carry lances, scimitars (Hand Weapons), shields, and at least two javelins. Finally, such heroes keep a bottle of kvas to help them through the icy nights. Career Entries Horse Master, Kossar, Noble, Outrider, Peasant, Streltsi Career Exits Captain, Horse Master, Scout, Veteran Slaying the Eagle – Initiation Rites of the Winged Lancers The royal houses of Kislev have held the eagle to be a sacred bird for time immemorial, and this is commemorated in a secret ritual that every would-be winged lancer must complete. Armed only with a bow, five arrows and a knife, the young man leaves his settlement and ventures into the wild. His mission is clear – he must return within five days with an eagle that he has slain. The eagle’s feathers will be used to decorate his distinctive back banner and will mark him as worthy to ride with the winged lancers This is the tradition. Alas, that in many Gospodar communities it is more practiced in the breach. Some richer families hire professional hunters to accompany their sons into the wild. The youngster must still take the shot himself, but he is aided by the hunters, who are expert in the location of nearby nests. While not technically a violation of tradition, grizzled veterans derisively call such practices “cheating the eagle”. Rumours circulate that some noble sons even let the hunters take the shot, plunging an arrowhead into the eagle’s corpse only after the veteran huntsmen have brought it down. If such an allegation were ever proved, the winged lancer in question would be drummed out of his rota in disgrace. Maxim Zakharov the Gryphon Slayer Maxim is a young man but already his career has been distinguished. When it was his time to slay the eagle, he brought back a dead griffon instead, towing it behind a wild horse he had tamed. As a result, his back banner is particularly impressive. Since then he has risen quickly within his rota, proving his valour again and again. He has an instinctive mastery of his horse and a fearless natureHe and his men are the bane of Kurgan raiding parties from the Chaos wastes, and he has personally slain a menacing ice troll that was terrorising isolated villages. He has become a true hero of the people and his reputation is spreading quickly. However, there is a dark side to Maxim. He is troubled by strange dreams, and has a fiery temper which sometimes gets the better of him. He has gained a new friend lately, a grizzled, hobbled mentor scarred from countless battles and missing his entire left arm. This friend, the mysterious Gregori, is actually a minor daemon sent by the ruinous power, Khorne, to win the young Maxim over to his service. The daemon knows that if somehow Maxim could be seduced by the joys of carnage and slaughter, he will rise to become a great champion for the Blood God.